Clearing the Hurdles

May 2008

Is it spring yet?  As I write this, the sun is starting to rise, the chill in the air is lifting and the forecast is for highs in the 50’s!  With winter hanging on so late, I know that many teams have had to cancel several of their early season meets.  It has been difficult for everyone to hold productive practices as well, with competition for facilities among all the spring sports at many schools.  Hopefully by the time you receive this, the weather will have turned, the skies will be sunny and blue and we will be back on track to having successful seasons. 

The 2008 Hamline Elite Meet was run under very wintry conditions with temps in the 30’s and a pretty stiff wind blowing.  However, those that participated managed to produce some fantastic performances and set the stage for an exciting final half of the season.  True Team section meets are coming up fast.  Meet managers are busily preparing and the True Team committee is set to put together another great True Team state meet. 

One of the major points of discussion at the Clinic in January centered around the number of classes at the MSHSL state meet.  It was finally decided to form a committee to research the possibility of presenting a 3 class proposal to the Advisory Board.  This committee has been working hard toward that end and will be meeting to put together a survey for all head coaches across the state.  The Advisory Board met with Jody Redman, the Track & Field liason with the MSHSL, in February and also talked about three classes.  She said that the MSHSL discussion so far had been mostly about moving to three classes of administrative regions, not moving specific sports to three classes.  We will be paying close attention to any MSHSL discussions regarding 3 classes.

In closing, I would like to sincerely thank our President Craig Nelson for his leadership of the Association and his continued dedication to making Track and Field in Minnesota a great opportunity for kids.  Kent Viesselman of Cambridge-Isanti High School has agreed to serve as our Vice President.  Please contact either of us with any ideas to improve Minnesota Track and Field.  Our contact information is on the website.

Good luck, and have a great finish to your season!

Dave Wieber

Minnesota High School

Track and Field Coaches

Association

Faribault H.S.